Abu Dhabi Police has obtained a marked-and-outfitted Nissan Xterra for use as a police patrol vehicle. No word on how many will be joining the police fleet, although the current Pathfinder has already been on duty in AD for a while now, alongside other less-reliable brethen such as the Dodge Charger, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the VW GTI.

So there I was, people-watching from my apartment window as usual, seeing taxis speeding by tired brown people, spotting RTA guys hand out tickets, and counting the number of passing Land Cruisers (202.4 per hour at last calculation). And then I spotted this unique-looking five-door wagon. It had a sharp profile, with cool details such as lights on the hood and big red rear lights. The overall shape reminded me of a Nissan GT-R. And then it hit me — is this an early prototype of a secret GT-R sportwagon hot-weather-testing in Dubai?

Organisers CMPi have revealed what is set to be the region’s premier tuning and custom car and bike show, TURBO: For A Custom Nation. Debuting at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre between 10th and 12th of October (update: postponed to November 13-15) the show will be apparently be packed with stunning vehicles from the world’s most famous and fastest tuners and feature some of the best customised cars exclusively brought in for TURBO.

Naming a car after a natural disaster is never a good idea. It gives people like me a chance to come up with cheesy titles for articles. But I did take our recent Chevy Avalanche Z71 tester up and down the Jebel Hafeet mountain road. Considering it was a family picnic, I did not try to beat any records that I might have set with the Bentley. But it gave me the opportunity to try out some smooth driving techniques with a vehicle that has more body roll than the sinking Titanic.

Gulf News reported that UAE residents will soon be able to obtain driving licences from any emirate regardless of their residence visa, although this was supposed to happen on March 1 with the Federal Traffic Law. We hear it will happen in April.

The Kia Optima, our recommended midsize car that everyone chooses to ignore, has been heavily facelifted for the 2009 model year. Revealed at the 2008 New York Auto Show, the new Optima is still very similar to the existing version.

The 2008 New York Auto Show this week is playing host to a number of hot new cars, all for the American market. None of these cars are due for a GCC release anytime soon, but it is always nice to have hope.

The top breaking news story for tonight is that UK-based parent company Aston Martin, newly independent from Ford, is being sued for US$50 million by its Dubai-based Middle East distributors because of an apparent breach of contract. The lawsuit, filed by Middle East Aston Martin (MEAM), claims one of the new owners of the carmaker, Kuwaiti investment group DAR, is planning to refinance its stake in the company (whatever that means) and has disallowed the distributor to renew its investment, according to Reuters news agency.

The 2009 Nissan Maxima is soon going to debut at the 2008 New York Auto Show this week, but here are some early photos of the car, leaked onto the internet as usual. Let’s see the print magazines play catch-up with us.